Renowned Director Yuri Khaschevatsky Has Died

23.07.2026, 18:16
3,948

He directed the cult classics *Ploshcha* and *An Ordinary President*.

Belarusian film director Yuri Khaschevatsky has died. He was 78 years old. His acquaintances reported this to Charter97.org.

Yuri Khaschevatsky was born on October 18, 1947, in Odessa. After graduating first from the Odessa Technical Institute and then from the Leningrad State Institute of Theater, Music, and Cinematography, he began working as a director at “Beltorgreklama.” He then worked for Belarusian television, at “Belarusian Telefilm,” and, starting in 1989, at “Belarusfilm.”

Over the course of his creative career, he has directed more than thirty documentary and feature-length films. Among them are *This Quiet Life in Glubokoe*, *Krylov Was Here*, *Counterclaim*, “All Is Well,” “Russian Happiness,” “Oasis,” “The Era of Zhou Enlai,” “The Gods of the Hammer and Sickle,” “Living to See Love,” “Caucasian Captives,” and “In Search of Yiddish.”

Khashchevatsky gained the most fame for his 1996 documentary “An Ordinary President.” The film is dedicated to the early years of Alexander Lukashenko’s rule and was made in the style of a political satire. The film received a number of international awards, including the Peace Prize at the Berlin Film Festival, the Grand Prix from Human Rights Watch in New York, and the “Golden Gate” Award at the San Francisco Film Festival. The screenplay was written by Leonid Mindlin, and the film was produced by Pyotr Martsev. The film featured former Belarusian Minister of Internal Affairs Yuri Zakharenko, who was abducted in 1999 and has been missing ever since.

The film “Ploshcha,” which chronicles the 2006 presidential election in Belarus and the protests on October Square in Minsk, also received widespread attention.

In public life, Yuri Khaschevatsky was one of the founders of the Minsk Association of Jewish Culture in 1988; he served on the organization’s board but later left due to disagreements. In the late 1990s, he was a member of the Board of Directors of the World Association of Belarusian Jews.

In his political activities, Khaschevatsky openly opposed the Lukashenko regime. He was also a member of the organizing committee of the “Charter ’97” civic initiative.

In 2018, the director gave an extensive interview to the website Charter97.org, in which he spoke about his life story.

The editorial staff of Charter97.org extends its condolences to Yuri Khaschevatsky’s family and loved ones.